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Show Spm'fl/Features Page 14 Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008 Table for Four: Writer Kara DioGuardi joins 'Idol'judges BY LISA DE MORAES The Washington Post backup and now there is going to be a lot more "girl power' on the show." During a phone interview with Because when ratings dip on nonThe Reporters Who Cover Television, scripted TV shows, network and DioGuardi said that while she studio suits always shuffle around somehow hasn't spoken to Paula the women (see "Today" show, e.g.), since being hired, she's sure Paula is Fox is adding a younger, female judge excited for her because they've been to the country's most popular show, friends for a long time and co-wrote "American Idol," when its eighth seaa song "early in my career" — but, of son begins in January. course, not early in Paula's because Pop songwriter-producer Kara she's way older. "I always had a great DioGuardi will join the singing relationship with Paula," DioGuardi competition show, which suffered said. "I can't imagine her not being a decline in ratings last year, as did happy with it." virtually every other program on the Interestingly, Paula seemed to give prime-time landscape. the hire a less than ringing endorseDioGuardi, who is young enough ment during an interview on the to be "Idol" judge Paula Abduls kid syndicated "Johnjay and Rich" radio sister, has the distinction of having show. been a judge on ABC's very shortAsked if she was excited about the lived "American Idol" wannabe "The addition, Paula responded, "Yeah... One: Making a Music Star." It was the girl power. You know, I am concerned worst debuting TV series in the hisabout the audience and acceptance.... tory of the major TV networks back But time will tell...." in '06 and ABC yanked it after its Paula has history on her side. The second broadcast. "Idol" brain trust decided to add a Fox says it is making the change for fourth judge — New York DJ/hipPaula's sake. Seriously, it did: hop artist Angie Martinez — for the "For the past seven seasons, Paula start of the show's second season. But has had to endure the experience of she quit after a few days, saying, "It being the only woman at the judges' became too uncomfortable for me to table," Mike Darnell, who oversees tell someone else to give up on their reality programming at the network, dream, especially when I realized said in Monday's announcement. that many of them have supported "She's been an island of consideration my career." and gentle criticism between Randy Even so, another of the show's (Jackson) and Simon (Cowell), offerplethora of exec producers, Cecile ing her invaluable expertise as a perFrot-Coutaz, insisted they've seen former and No. 1 artist.... With Kara from the overseas versions of the by her side, Paula finally has some singing competition "that having a fourth judge creates a dynamic that benefits both the contestants and the viewers." It also creates a problem in how to deal with ties in the early rounds, as the judges vote on whether an "Idol" hopeful makes it through to Hollywood Week. Reporters on the phone call asked DioGuardi how they were going to handle that. She hadn't a clue. The addition of a fourth judge seems odd, given how little on-air time the three "Idol" judges had last season to critique the Idolettes. But the producers are clearly shaking up the show, which averaged more than 28 million viewers in its seventh season. While easily the most watched Kara DioGuardi will join hit TV show 'American Idol' next season. show of the 2007-08 TV season, "Idol" was down from the nearly 31 would seem. in the afternoon with the actual million it clocked in its heyday in The network listed a slew of them reporters, DioGuardi said she found '06. (However, May's final showdown in its announcement, including out she was in the running for the between Idolettes David Cook and Kelly Clarkson, Christina Aguilera, gig when "my agent called me and he David Archuleta copped about 32 Gwen Stefani, Celine Dion, Santana said, 'You are on a short list to be the million viewers, up about 1 percent and Pink. Also releasing DioGuardi fourth judge on ^AMERICAN IDOL,' over the '07 season finale.) songs are such pop-lite-ers as Britney and I said, 'Are you calling for me Producer Simon Fuller acknowlSpears, Avril Lavigne, Miley Cyrus, or did you dial the wrong number?' edged they were "turning the heat the Jonas Brothers, Taylor Hicks, Bo They were, like "No, seriously this is up" on the show. He said they were Bice — not THE Bo Bice?! — Clay going on, this can happen,' and I was, "thrilled" to add DioGuardi to the Aiken, Hilary Duff, Jessica Simpson like, "there is no way they are going judges' table, because she is "smart" and Enrique Iglesias. You may know to pick me. Why wouldn't they pick and "sassy." And, one of the country's DioGuardi from her songs featured someone famous? Someone everyone "most successful songwriters." in Disney Channel's "Camp Rock," or knows?' But, you know, I guess they To back up this claim. Fox noted "The Cheetah Girls 3," or the Hannah saw something about me that they that she is "Grammy-nominated." Montana flick. thought was good, and they wanted This is different from "Grammyto put somebody who was from the In an "interview" somebody allegwinning." That said, Fox said her industry on the show, and so I got the edly conducted that popped up on songs have been recorded by actual job." Fox's Web site Monday, and which Grammy-winning artists — though was far zippier than the one she held they didn't win for her songs, it TV networks with black audiences focus on Demo Convention BY GREG BRAXTON Los Angeles Times Amid the crush of media at the Democratic National Convention are two relative newcomers to the election scene: TV One and BET, a pair of cable networks that court a black audience. As all media outlets, the pair must meet the usual programming and logistical demands of convention coverage, but they also face a question that is virtually unique to them: What is the line between pride and advocacy? Although Sen. Barack Obama's historic candidacy has prompted the two networks to devote unprecedented resources toward political coverage, it also means they must find a journalistic balance between honoring the achievement and reporting the news. That tension has been highlighted by both networks' decision to extensively cover the Democratic convention and practically ignore its Republican counterpart. Both networks can provide a depth and insight that perhaps the mainstream media cannot, but they are still wary of charges of favoritism, which have already surfaced within some pockets of the black national media. "If the media outlets are covering this just because he's black, that's the wrong reason," said Harry Lyles, an Atlanta-based urban radio and media consultant who has been critical of many black radio stations' Obama boosterism. "Any time there's a presidential campaign, it should be important to African Americans, and not just because one of the candidates is black." For TV One, which has never covered a political convention, the decision to be in Denver was simple. It wanted to showcase what it considers to be one of the critical moments in black history - a major party's coronation of a black candidate. Its coverage, which comes at the expense of much of its usual lifestyle and entertainment programming, will be exhaustive. It's planning to deliver live gavel-to-gavel coverage during prime time, just as mainstream news outlets CNN and C-SPAN do. That coverage will be supplemented by a freewheeling talk show, "TV One Live: DNC Afterparty," featuring, among others, the Rev. Al Sharpton discussing the day's events, and segments on convention food and fashion. "Our mission is to celebrate African American culture and to chronicle African American achievement," said TV One Chairman Johnathan Rodgers, who is investing $1 million toward convention coverage -- a considerable sum for a small network. "When the year started, this was not in our budget. But when he became the presumptive nominee, it just seemed like this was a sure AggieBlue.com Welcome back USUI Now until Friday we're gl away MP3 players and t-shlrts to students with high scores In a variety of games. thing for us." But TV One executives contend that Obama isn't getting a "rubber stamp" from the network. One of the hosts for the "Afterparty" program will be the Rev. Marcia Dyson, a strong supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, DN.Y. Also, comedian Sheryl Underwood, a Republican, will be one of the panelists as well. Meanwhile, Black Entertainment Television is returning to limited journalism after abandoning its nightly newscast in 2005. The network will feature periodic reports and interviews from the floor and will broadcast Obama's acceptance speech live. It also will air a special live edition of its new weekly news show, "The Truth With Jeff Johnson." Kevin Brown, BET's vice president of news and public affairs, rejects the suggestion that his network might be biased in its coverage. "I really take offense to the charge that black journalists can't be objective. There is the celebratory nature of the moment, that's true," said Brown. "But we're going to call the candidates on their agendas. We can't give either of them a free pass. We do have to keep in mind our demographic, which is the 18- to 34-year-old viewer, and be responsive to that. But that will not taint the integrity of the journalism that goes into it." But not everyone regards possible preferential treatment of Obama by black cable networks as damaging. "I don't have a problem with the cheerleading," said Darnell Hunt, head of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA. "The black press will provide a perspective and viewpoint you won't get from other press." The networks dream of landing an interview with the candidate, or at the very least, with his wife, Michelle. TV Cows line up with compass, German zoologists claim BY THOMAS H. MAUGH Los Angeles Times Birds do it, bees do it, and so, apparently do ... cows? No, it's not that. We're talking about sensing the Earth's magnetic field. German scientists using satellite images posted online by Google Earth have observed something that has escaped the notice of farmers, herders and hunters for thousands of years -- cattle grazing or at rest tend to orient their bodies in a north-south direction just like a compass needle. A8cW IS THE Studying photographs of 8,510 cattle in 308 ENJOY A herds from around the world, zoologists Sabine HOME TO CREAMY SHAKE, Begall and Hynek Burda of the University of THE GREATEST Duisburg-Essen in Germany and their colTASTY ICE CREAM leagues ROOTBEER, found that two out of every three aniCONE, OR A HOT mals in the pictures were oriented in a direction ROOTBEER FLOATS roughly pointing to magnetic north. FUDGE SUNDAE! & ROOTBEER FREEZES. The resolution of the images was not sufficient to tell which end of the cows were pointing north, however. Asked if he had observed such behavior in cows, dairy farmer Rob Fletcher of Tulare, Calif., said, "Absolutely not." LOGAN SMITHFIELD But, he added, "I don't spend a lot of time 7O1 N. MAIN 1O7 S. MAIN worrying about stuff like that." 752-2155 563-O222 Similar results were found in field studies of 2,974 red and roe deer in the Czech Republic, the researchers reported Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of VISIT US FOR DELICIOUS 1 0 0 % U.S. BEEF BURGERS, Sciences (www.pnas.org). The researchers had GRILLED OR CRISPY CHICKEN SANDWICHES, AND OF COURSE, been studying magnetism in smaller animals THE BIG BLUE SPECIAL. OUR FRENCH FRIES, ONION RINGS, and were looking for a way to extend their work to larger species. OR CHEESE CURDS WILL TREAT YOU GREAT. Cows are known to align their bodies facing uphill, facing into a strong wind to minimize heat loss or broadside to the sun on cold WELCOME BACK USU STUDENTS! ALL AMERICAN FOOD One also wants to interview members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who are frequently overlooked by mainstream news shows. They both plan to greatly scale back their efforts at the Republican National Convention, which begins Sept. 1. BET will offer only limited coverage, while TV One will have none. But Hunt believes it's a mistake for the black channels to ignore the Republican National Convention, which has low support from most blacks. "They should be covering all conventions," he said. "There hasn't been the type of investment in collecting news about the state of black America that would balance and complement the news that comes from more mainstream outlets. And given the role the RNC has played in the problems of this country, I would think those networks would want to be there." mornings to absorb heat. But the fact that the pictures were taken at many locations, at different times of day and in generally calm weather minimized the influence of environmental factors, the researchers said. Researchers have long known that certain bacteria, birds, fish, whales and even rodents have minute organs in their brains containing particles of magnetite that can act like a compass. But the new results are the first hint that larger land-based mammals also might have such organs, said biologist Kenneth J. Lohmann of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who was not involved in the research. The findings are "very interesting and not at all implausible " said geobiologist Joseph Kirschvink at California Institute of Technology, who also was not involved in the research. "We have to remember that whales are descended from a common ancestor of (cows), so this is not a surprise given what we know about whales." Kirschvink added, "This is an incredibly neat use of Google Earth. This is a study we would not have dreamed about doing five years ago." Bats, birds, bees and whales all use magnetic senses to help navigate during their travels. Kirschvink recently reported, for example, that if a pulsing magnetic field is applied to bats perpendicular to the Earth's magnetic field, the animals will change the direction of their flight by 90 degrees in response. What the benefit could be for cows, however, remains a mystery. It might help them find their way home, or perhaps it is a vestigial sense that is no longer used for any purpose. Furthermore, the authors said, no one has examined cows or deer to determine whether their brains contain magnetic particles. |
